Interim Results Show Smart Technology Can Help Reduce Peak Energy Use

OG&E customers realize energy savings during first year of study

DistribuTECH 2011

February 02, 2011 03:16 PM Eastern Standard Time

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) today announced promising results from
about 2,500 of its residential customers participating in the first year
of its two-year smart grid study.

The company will present its interim findings in San Diego Wednesday,
Feb. 2, at DistribuTECH, one of the utility industry’s leading smart
grid conferences and expositions. A snapshot of the findings includes:

Customers with a smart thermostat achieved a maximum demand reduction
of 57 percent during the peak period when compared to a control group.

The amount of electricity used by participants on the company’s
variable peak price plan was highly influenced by price. Average
energy use during the peak period ranged from a 1 percent increase
during low price periods to a 33 percent decrease during high price
periods.

The average energy reduction during peak periods, on the highest price
days, ranged from 11 percent to 33 percent, depending on smart
technology.

“While today’s results are promising, we’re constantly reminding
ourselves that they reflect only one summer of our study, and that
there’s still a great deal of work to be done,” said Ken Grant, managing
director of OG&E’s smart grid program. “We hope to verify and expand on
these results in year two of the study, which will conclude at the end
of September.”

More than 2,500 residential and small business customers in Norman,
Okla., participated in the 2010 study, which was conducted from June
through September. Residential customers who volunteered to participate
were randomly assigned a combination of a peak price plan and smart
technology. Business customers were involved as a large focus group and
could select their price plan and technology.

Grant added that in addition to the peak reduction data, the company
continues to learn from the study and its participants about which
technology provides the best information to help them manage their
energy more wisely.

“In addition to saving on their bills, participants tell us that they
generally like being more aware of their energy use and costs,” Grant
said. “Some pre-programmed their thermostats to respond to higher peak
prices. Some simply put a note on the refrigerator as a reminder, and
others wanted to graph their energy use along with summer temperatures
to identify ways to better manage their electricity. Our challenge is to
provide products and services to help each of these customers make
informed energy choices.”

In 2011, OG&E will add an additional 2,500-3,000 small business and
residential customers to its study, seeking participants to enroll
between February 14 and April 18. Results for both years will be used to
develop new customer programs for 2012.

“Our customers are vital to ensuring the long-term success of our demand
reduction programs,” Grant said. “It’s a partnership that we share.
These early study results clearly demonstrate that smart technology
coupled with dynamic pricing enables customers to reduce their maximum
peak energy use, which will help delay the need for building new
fossil-fueled generation until at least 2020.”

In 2008, OGE Energy Chairman and CEO Pete Delaney established a goal for
OG&E to delay the addition of any new fossil-fueled generation until at
least 2020.

OG&E is in the middle of a three-year comprehensive deployment of smart
grid technology across its service territory which includes the
installation of smart meters, a secure wireless network and smart
equipment on its distribution system to increase reliability and reduce
operational expenses. It received approval in July from the Oklahoma
Corporation Commission for recovery of approximately $360 million in
project costs of which more than $100 million is in matching funds from
a US Department of Energy stimulus grant. A case seeking recovery for
smart grid deployment in areas served by OG&E in Arkansas is pending in
that state’s public service commission.

OGE
Energy is the parent company of OG&E, a regulated electric utility
with more than 782,000 customers in a service area spanning 30,000
square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and of Enogex, currently
with 8,000 miles of pipe, nine processing plants and 24 billion cubic
feet of natural gas storage capacity.

Contacts

for Oklahoma Gas and ElectricSandra Longcrier, 405-808-8605

Release Summary

Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) today announced promising results from about 2,500 of its residential customers participating in the first year of its two-year smart grid study.